Duke

  After being gone for a while it feels right to start again with an introduction. Since we said farewell to Cash a few things have transpired around here.

One of those things is a new dog on the string. That’s right there is a new dog here in our neck of the woods. If you have been following on Instagram then you are aware of an Irish Setter named Duke has joined the team.  

   His registered name is BriLou’s Duke of Cashel. So where does this fit in with the names that are historical and named after fighters both fictional and real. Well it doesn’t Duke is a classic dog name that seemed to fit. So what is Cashel? Cashel is a town in Tipperary Ireland and there is an amazing ancient abbey there. So in paying tribute to my family’s Irish heritage and the new dog being an Irish setter I figured what is a better way than to pick an iconic symbol of Irish history that resides in the county my family is from. So that is where we derived his name from.

 Since we have had him for more than a year he has accomplished a number of things in his first year.

 The first time he was entered in a fun trial he took second place in the puppy division at 9 months old. I was pretty excited as there was a large puppy division and we were there to see how we were doing. During this run he had a great point on a water barrel. This was the first time he came across one in the field and it was a curiosity for him. It was comical.  We all had a laugh.

 Then we had our first hunts in the piney woods. He took the threes and the different terrain like an old pro. While the birds around here were not cooperative this past season he did a great job hunting objectives and searching where the birds should be. He also handled like an old pro. He has made these few trips afield a real joy.

 So at the end of the season we went to a field trial club fundraiser. This trial was run under UFTA rules with one exception: you can keep your training collars on your dogs. So with the stipulations set I went ahead and signed Duke up for his first taste of the UFTA. 

 We waited our turn and got in the blind. He waited but not as patiently as one would hope. He was a little excited.

 Our time came to run so we got to the line and I turned him loose. He gets into the first bird fairly quickly so we flush the bird and it is a safety as it flew directly at the gallery.

After a minute of trying to get him out of the tree line and back on course we head to the next section.

 In the second and third sections he finds the birds with some solid searching and working as a team mate and not on his own. We get the two birds in these sections and he retrieves them all the way to me. They weren’t at the MH level but the birds went in the bag. 

 After bagging the birds, I collar him. As the judge is figuring up the score, I praise him and put him on his leash for the walk off the field. The judge turns to me and tells me the score and it is the highest score that I have run with one of my dogs. To say the least coming off the field there was a smile from ear to ear and it was a great way to end the season.

 So now we are in the middle of the summer grind. We are working on being staunch and being steady to the flush. He makes gains everytime out and really is fun to work with,

 That is where we are right now and looking forward to many days walking behind Duke. There will be more to come.